Tasting Wines

So, besides from being an orthodox wine lover and preacher, I am too, together with my husband, a restaurateur and wine buyer. However, with all the wines we taste and like throughout the year, it’s impossible for us to buy it all. Which is actually quite terrible. Therefore we have decided to score everything we taste -both the wines we import ourselves as well as the wines we can’t get our fingers on- hoping that someone else will buy in on our recommendations.

September 2017 update: Tasting notes will be scored with 1-12 (1 is lowest and 12 is highest)

In Emilia-Romagna where Sangiovese is also very present, biodynamic wine producer Tenuta Mara grows Sangiovese only taking organic growth very, very seriously. The azienda is completely devoted to the spirit of Rudolf Steiner so no use of any kind of fertilisers are at stake, cultivating is based on the the Lunar and Planetary Calendar using plant and animal origin only and everything is accompanied by classical music. At Collisioni 2017 I had a vertical of their wines from 2011-2015

Were Dreams…. from Jerman, vintage 2008 – as the colour reveals this wine has gotten old but oh my, with seldom grace. Gorgeous. We tried to drink it the other night for dinner having a Sardinian speciality; Aragosta alla Catalana (lobster with tomatoes, lemon, white vinegar, celery and white onions) and it completely lost its breath so we actually gave up on it and found something else. But, you never know, so we kept it in the fridge to try it again suspecting it was the high level of acidity in the dish that killed it. Having a moment to myself this afternoon I poured a glass and (emptied the bottle – wait a minute, there were only tops half a bottle left when I started!) had a very lovely experience. This is what I got:

Beautiful, deep golden color, strong nose of stone fruits peaches and apricots, butter in sync with lemon zest, coconut, toast and vanilla – after a while floral nose of lilies, pungent spice knocking on the door – that was mustard – particularly that smell of ‘mostarda’ (preserved fruit, often stone and citrus, with mustard), then stewed apple and applepie. Slight, slight, slight note of nuts and caramel, so starting to oxidise

On the palate a harmonious orchestra of biscuits, vanilla, butter, peaches, dried apricots, some of that mustard I had from the nose, toast, apple pie and a very philosophic much fairly long finish, rich and smooth body, good acidity (despite of it’s almost 9 years), well balanced alcohol (by no means aggressive with 13,5% abv), surely fully developed, so drink now. Thank you Jerman, I’ll toast to that anytime

Colterenzio is a co-operative winery consisiting of a board, a direction and 300 very proud grower-members -the Ambassadors- in Northern Italy’s Alto Adige, with a wine history dating back to 15 b.C.

From 1979 visionary Luis Raifer was behind the wheel, soon joined by his son Wolfgang Raifer who neatly followed in his father’s footsteps serving the co-operative first as winemaker, then in the sales departement and finally, until 2017, as the azienda’s Ceo.

The first time I tasted Colterenzio’s wines myself was around 10 years ago. I had some of their Lafoa wines and of course the Chardonnay Formigar (then called Chardonnnay Cornell). Having a soft touch for Chardonnay I instantly fell in love with the house’s wine style and have continued to appreciate it throughout the years. The latest vintage of 2014 is no exception;